Drew's 850 L Restoration

[jsandidge]

It's next week, let's see some updated pics of your progress.

Coming soon....

[gwoolston]

What did you do with the old wiring harness? I am restoring an 81 GS650, and the wiring harness looks pretty grimey. I don't know if it all functions yet, but I hope it functions. I'd just like to freshen it up some.

Thanks

[mikerophone]

Curious what others have done for this as well.

I use simple green on a rag to clean up a grimey or sticky harness and re-wrap loose sections or sections I opened for testing or splicing with this wire wrap tape on Amazon.

The plastic split or spiral wrap loom works ok for short sections or areas that aren't subject to water from the road (like under the tank, but the PVC wrap is more of a permanent and protective solution. I'll be making a custom harness for a project bike this year and would like to learn more from others about what they use. I'll start a thread then, unless there's an existing or new on by then.

[jsandidge]

What did you do with the old wiring harness? I am restoring an 81 GS650, and the wiring harness looks pretty grimey. I don't know if it all functions yet, but I hope it functions. I'd just like to freshen it up some.

Thanks

My harness was in good shape. I had previously replaced many of the connections using parts from Vintage Connections. Great place to do business with. I then cleaned all the grime with Simple Green and a rag like Mikerophone says.

[gwoolston]

Thanks guys I appreciate the tips!

[jsandidge]

Gauge faces

I could have done a whole thread on the work that went into these gauge faces. So glad to finally be done with them. First, I took pictures so I could re-create the artwork in CorelDraw. Once the artwork was done, I burned the image into a pre-coated silk screen I purchased. Then, I sanded the faces down to bare plastic and re-painted the brown. Finally, I was able to squeegee the ink through the screen onto the faces. Not a professional job, but they look pretty good. Here's the before and after:

[jsandidge]

Also, painting has begun! Just got the side covers in prime before the weather went bad. Primer sanded smooth with 600. Waiting till this weekend to shoot color if the weather cooperates.

[jsandidge]

gauges complete

Sorry guys, I've been terrible about posting updates. Here is something from a few months back.

[jsandidge]

Fresh Clear

Just sprayed the last of the clear a few hours ago. Got a couple small nibs and a run on the left side. I'm sure I can fix all that since there is plenty of clear on there. Thanks for all your help and patience with all my newbie questions, guys!

[uteman]

I just went through your resto posts. Great job thus far. I wish I knew how to post several photos like you have done. I would have posted my resto if I could have worked that. My bike was a real mess to start with. Congrats on a great job

[jsandidge]

I just went through your resto posts. Great job thus far. I wish I knew how to post several photos like you have done. I would have posted my resto if I could have worked that. My bike was a real mess to start with. Congrats on a great job

Thanks. I actually need to update my thread as the bike is all but finished now.

The trick to posting pics is to use a 3rd party image hosting site like photobucket. Then you copy and paste the image link into your post.

[jsandidge]

All that is left to do now is to re-paint the tank and side cover emblems. I'll post some pics when they are done. It hit 68 degrees here, so I went for my first ride of the year! It's supposed to get up to 74 tomorrow, so you wanna guess what I'll be doing?

[Good Times]

Great job JS!

[eil]

Neat trick with those indicator faces, I'm going to have to remember that!

[Welldr]

Did you use tape or is the gold painted on?